ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
World Nature Conservation Day
National Zoological Park, New Delhi  celebrated World Nature Conservation Day today. The theme for World Nature Conservation Day 2022 was “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”.
The programme commenced by delivering the goals of LiFE after which “Segregation of Waste Material” and “Waste to useful products” were conducted to address the importance of this practice in reducing wastes, helping to minimize the negative impact on our environment. After the presentation, a doodle activity was conducted and students participated enthusiastically.
The goal of arranging this activity at National Zoological Park was to create awareness among the students to promote concept of Lifestyle for Environment by staying close to the nature and its conservation. A pledge was also taken on Mission-LiFE.
MJPS/NKS
(Visitor Counter : 1444
Ministry of Finance
Welfare Schemes should reach the poor, Credit facility to eligible through Grahak Mela-MoS Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy
The Minister of state for Home affairs Shri G Kishan Reddy said that the central government is working hard to reach the welfare schemes to the poor. Speaking on the occasion of the outreach program organized by the Bank of India, the Minister said that after the implementation of the GST, the prices of essential commodities had come down and black money had been returned to the banks after the cancellation of big notes.
He said small and medium-sized merchants were being introduced through the Mudra Loans. The Prime Minister-led union government is aiming to grow as $ 5 trillion economy; in this way we are helping small traders by providing them a credit to grow their businesses. All the queries will be addressed at the stalls that were set up here.
Shri Madnesh Kumar Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, said there was a shortage of banknotes in the country, as it is in publicity. As the Prime Minister said that credit culture could be enhanced through discussions at the grass root level, the banking outreach program has been formulated in 250 districts as first phase and in 200 districts in the next phase. This is part of the systematic bank reform process which envisioned taking banks to doorsteps and increasing ease of customer access and delivery of services, he added.
Designed to provide banking outreach in two phases across 450 districts, NBFCs, MFIs, SHGs, MSMEs, Mudra, Retail and Agri-Clients participated. The inspiration behind this program is to show the capacity of the PSBs and the willingness to fund all sectors of the economy. This Customer Outreach Initiative is underway to fulfil the goal of financial inclusion, including the promotion of digital payments. It helps in the re-establishment and rebranding of public sector banks while serving the community. The main objective of the program is to identify bank priorities for the $ 5 trillion economy.
(Representatives, top officials and clients of various banks participated in the event.
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
CapacityAugmentation of Navigation on the Haldia–Varanasi stretch  at cost of Rs. 5369.18 crore: Shri Mansukh Mandaviya
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today the Minister of State for Shipping  and Chemical & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya informed thattheGovernment is developing Ganga River as inland waterwayInland Waterways Authority of India  is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project  at an estimated cost of Rs. 5369.18 crore for capacity augmentation of navigation on the Haldia–Varanasi stretch National Waterway-1  with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. Projects worth Rs. 1800 crore  have commenced on the ground in a time period of three years after statutory clearances and an expenditure of Rs. 1447.43 crore has been incurred up to 31stOctober 2019. He informed that theMulti Modal Terminals at Varanasi  and Sahibganj  have also been completed.
PIB Headquarters
CITIZENS TURN SAMARITANS DONATING TO PMCARES FUND TO DEFEAT COVID -19
In a democratic country like India, people's participation is essential for the successful implementation of any Government programme. And when India is going through an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic disaster, fund requirements are high due to the indefinite nature of the pandemic.
Keeping this in mind, the Government of India felt the need of having a dedicated fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency like the one posed by the COVID 19 Pandemic to provide relief to the affected . The fund was created on 28th March, 2020 and named as the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency situations fund  .
The fund consists entirely of Voluntary Contribution from individuals, organisation and does not get any budget support. Donations to PM cares fund would qualify for 80G benefits for 100 percent exemption under the Income tax Act 1961. Donations to PM cares fund will also qualify to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility  expenditure under the Companies Act 2013.
PM cares fund is also exempted under the PCRA and a separate account for receiving foreign donations has been opened. Contributions as little as Rs 10 also is accepted under the fund. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appreciated the spirit of the country men for donating voluntarily in times of crisis. In a response to a tweet of a donor who donated Rs.501 to PMCARES FUND, the prime minister said there is nothing big or little and that every contribution mattered and it reflects our collective resolve to defeat Covid-19 . People from all sections of society have come forward to donate to the fund irrespective of whether it is big or meagre.
Speaking to Field Outreach Bureau Coimbatore, Indumathi, an eatery owner from Sowripalayam Coimbatore said her contribution to PMCARES FUND may help towards better Covid 19 vaccine development and for treating the affected .
Prabhakar, a software ware engineer from Coimbatore says he is happy to donate to PM cares fund as it is required for finding a solution to end the pandemic. He also urged the public to come forward and contribute for this noble cause.
Yuvantika , a Nine year old girl from Theethipalayam Coimbatore said she donated her entire pocket money as the nation is facing a crisis and asked others also to do their bit.
The fund will definitely be a great boost to undertake and support relief or assistance of any kind relating to the present public health emergency Covid 19 including the up gradation of health care or pharmaceutical facilities, other necessary infrastructure, funding research on vaccine development or any type of support to public. With such widespread support from all sections of the society, the nation will soon bring an end to the disaster in line with the expectations of its citizens.
Hon'ble PM appreciating a donor
Indumathi, an eatery owner says her contribution will help vaccine development
Prabakar , a software engineer says his donation will help end the disaster
Yuvantika, 9yr old girl believes it her duty to help the nation in crisis
(
Prime Minister's Office
Board members of United States India Strategic Partnership Forum call on PM
Board members of United States India Strategic Partnership Forum, USISPF comprising senior industry and business captains of the United States of America, called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today.
They briefed the Prime Minister on the outcomes of India Leadership Summit held earlier in the day. The business leaders appreciated the economic and regulatory reforms implemented by the Government in the past four years, and expressed their desire to further deepen their engagements with India to make use of the mutually beneficial opportunities created by the rapidly growing Indian economy.
The Prime Minister stated that both countries have benefitted in an unprecedented manner through economic engagement. He encouraged US companies to fully avail of the business opportunities in new areas as well, such as start-ups, energy, health care and digital technology.
Ministry of Railways
Initiatives in PPP to boost Railway Infrastructure
There is no proposal to privatise the Indian Railways . However, it is estimated that Indian Railways would need capital investment of ₹ 50 lakh crores up to the year 2030 for network expansion and capacity augmentation, rolling stock induction and other modernization works to enable better delivery of passenger and freight services and to improve its modal share in transport. To bridge the gap in Capital Funding and bring in modern technology and efficiencies, it is planned to use Public Private Partnership  model in few initiatives including induction of modern rakes to run passenger trains on select routes with an objective to provide improved service delivery to passengers. However, the work of train operations and safety certification will continue to be with Indian Railways in all such cases.
The existing passenger train services shall not be affected by the operation of passenger train services in PPP mode. The train services to be operated in PPP mode shall be additional trains, aimed at increasing the availability of train services to the public. The operator selected through a transparent bidding process shall be entitled to collect fare from the passenger based on market conditions commensurate with the level of services provided by him.
This information was given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Adoption of Modern Technology in Agriculture
Financial Assistance at 40% to 50% of the Cost is Provided under SMAM to make Machines and Equipments Affordable to the Farmers
The adoption of modern machines and equipments by the farmers depends on various factors such as socioeconomic conditions, geographical conditions, crop grown, irrigation facilities etc. However, the Government of India supports and facilitates the State Governments through various Centrally Sponsored and Central Sector Schemes to promote agriculture throughout the country and infusing modern technologies into the agriculture sector. For promotion of agricultural mechanization in the country, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization’  is being implemented through the State Governments w.e.f. 2014-15, with the major objectives of increasing the reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of farm power is low and promoting ‘Custom Hiring Centres’ to offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small landholding and high cost of individual ownership.
In order to make machines and equipments affordable to the farmers, financial assistance @ 40% to 50% of the cost depending on the categories of farmers, is provided under SMAM for purchase of agricultural machines. Financial assistance @ 40% of the project cost is also provided to rural youth & farmer as an entrepreneur, Cooperative Societies of Farmers, Registered Farmers Societies, Farmer Producer Organizations  and Panchayats for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres  and Hi-tech hubs of high value agricultural machines. Financial assistance @ 80% of the project cost for the projects costing up to Rs. 10 Lakhs is provided to the Cooperative Societies, Registered Farmer Societies, FPOs and Panchayats for setting up of village level Farm Machinery Banks . The rate of financial assistance for the North Eastern States for establishment of FMBs is @95% of the project cost for the projects costing up to Rs. 10 lakhs.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Home Affairs
CISF organizes Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Cycle Rally
Longest Cycle Rally from Yerwada Jail to Rajghat to be flagged off on 4th September
1,703 km-long 27-day Rally from Pune to Delhi will cover significant places of freedom struggle
Mumbai, 02nd September 2021
Central Industrial Security Force  is organizing 10 cycle rallies all over India, as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav being celebrated across the country. The longest of the 10 rallies will begin from the historical Yerwada Jail in Pune and conclude at Rajghat, Delhi. Along the 1,703-km-long route, the rally will cover historically significant spots and birthplaces of heroes of India’s freedom struggle, over a period of 27 days.
Representative image
The rally is being flagged off from Yerwada Jail, Pune at 8 A.M. on Saturday, 4th September, 2021. Yerwada Jail is the place where historic Poona Act was signed when Gandhiji fasted to protest against Communal award. He was housed three times in this jail.
The rally will terminate at Rajghat, the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi, on 2nd October, the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, on the 27th day of the rally. The rally is being organized with a focus on the youth of the country to get them connected with the brave stories of our freedom fighters and with the sacrifices made by unsung heroes of India’s freedom movement.
A team of 12 CISF cyclists will participate in the rally, which would be led by an Assistant Sub Inspector. Senior officials from CISF and other dignitaries will flag off the cycle rally. The rally will then move to Agha Khan Palace, where Mahatma Gandhi was kept in confinement during freedom struggle. This is the place where Gandhiji lived for 21 months after he gave the call for Quit India on 8th August, 1942. During this period, the Mahatma lost his wife Kasturba and his secretary Narayan Desai. The Samadhis of both of them are located in this grand palace of Pune, built by celebrated architect Charles Correa.
There will be two separate functions in Yerwada jail and Agha Khan Palace. The rally will reach Agha Khan Palace at 10 A.M. before heading to the next destination, Rajgurunagar. The cycle rally will pass through Rajgurunagar, Santwadi, Sangamner, Indian Security Press in Nashik, Chandvad, Arvi town and Shirpur Fata in Maharashtra.
On the 15th day, the cycle rally will reach Bhopal. The team of cyclists led by Sub Inspector Dhiraj Kumar Janice will cross over to Agra in Uttar Pradesh from Dholpur in Madhya Pradesh on the 24th day.
Some of the historically significant places being covered by the rally are Rajgurunagar , Bhavra in Madhya Pradesh  and Shivpuri , also in Madhya Pradesh.
The event will be organized while strictly following COVID protocols.
CISF is an armed force of the Union of India, which protects the vital installations of national monuments.
Special Service and Features
First conviction in Tamilnadu & Pondicherry charge of Income Tax Department during the Financial Year 2023-24 on account of offence committed in violation of the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961
The Income Tax Department , Chennai has got the first conviction for the financial year 2023-24 in respect of the prosecution proceedings initiated against a tax defaulter on 11.04.2023 for the offence committed under section 276C of the Income Tax Act, 1961, viz., willful attempt to evade payment of Income-tax.
The tax defaulter is a private limited company engaged in civil construction business. The Tax defaulter filed its return of Income for the AY 2017-18 without paying the tax admitted in the return of income and the same remained unpaid till the date of the order of conviction.
A prosecution complaint was filed before the Hon’ble Addl. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Economic Offences - I, against the said tax defaulter and its two directors for the offences u/s 276C & 276C r.w.s 278B of IT Act, 1961 for willful evasion of payment of tax. Chief examination of the prosecution witnesses was conducted and charges were framed by the Special Public Prosecutor, Shri. L. Muralikrishnan on behalf of the Department.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate for Economic Offences – I, Chennai has passed order on 11.04.2023 holding the tax defaulter and its directors guilty of the offences charged. The accused company has been convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 25,000/-. The Managing Director and the Director of the Company have also been convicted and sentenced to undergo R.I for 1 year and to pay fine of Rs.25,000/- each.
Ministry of Science & Technology
ARCI and IIT-H Scientists develop high-performance hybrid supercapacitors with novel electrode material
The device could pave way for next generation high power-high energy storage devices for day to day use
Scientists have developed a low-cost supercapacitor device with excellent capacitive retention with a novel electrode material they have synthesized, which can pave the way for the next generation high power-high energy storage devices.
Supercapacitors have gained considerable attention due to their high power density, long cycle life, and excellent capacity retention compared to their battery counterparts. Supercapacitors with high capacitance and excellent capacitive retention developed from low-cost fabrication techniques are the need of the hour, considering their potential utility in the commercial market.
Scientists at the International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials , an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad have developed a facile, scalable, and cost-effective electrochemical route to synthesize electrodes made of Nickel cobaltite  containing nanosheet structures with incorporated oxygen vacancies as an active material, for hybrid supercapacitors. These electrodes have been found to have excellent electrochemical performance.
Such hybrid supercapacitors combine the features of both conventional double layer supercapacitors and batteries and act as high power-high energy storage devices. However, it remains challenging to design pseudocapacitor devices with redox metal oxide  materials with high porosity, which exhibit high capacitance and good cycle life. It is desirable to amend the intrinsic properties of the synthesized MO to enhance its conductivity, stability, and electrochemical activity.
Scientists at ARCI and IIT-H addressed these challenges and were successful in synthesizing NiCo2O4 nanostructured electrodes by a novel electrodeposition route. They also introduced an optimum number of oxygen vacancies by an environmentally benign chemical reduction process to make up for an active, positive electrode material for hybrid supercapacitor, as reported in their recent publication in the journal “Batteries &Supercaps". This could be an effective alternative to the existing carbon-based electrodes for supercapacitors to achieve high energy density.
An asymmetric supercapacitor device further fabricated by the research team, using porous carbon and NiCo2O4 electrodes exhibited excellent capacity retention and stability. The device could power an LED lamp and a DC fan, as shown in the figure.
[Publication link: https://doi.org/10.1002/batt.202000121
For further details, contact Dr. B. V. Sarada  ]
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
India reports 70,421 Daily New Cases in the last 24 hours; lowest after 74 days
India's Active Caseload declines below 10 Lakh mark after 66 days
Daily Recoveries continue to outnumber the Daily New Cases for more than a month
Recovery Rate increases to 95.43%
Daily Positivity Rate stands at 4.72%, less than 10% positivity for 3 weeks
India continues to report a sustained slide in the daily new COVID cases. The country has reported 70,421 Daily New Cases in the last 24 hours. Less than 1 lakh Daily New Cases have been reported for 7 continuous days now. This is a result of sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs.
India has also been witnessing a continuous fall in the active caseload. The country’s Active Caseload today stands at 9,73,158. The Caseload has declined below 10 lakh mark after 66 days.
A net decline of 53,001 is witnessed in the last 24 hours and active cases are now only 3.30% of the country's total Positive Cases.
As more people are getting recovered from COVID-19 infection, India’s Daily Recoveries continue to outnumber the Daily New Cases for 32 consecutive days now. 1,19,501 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours.
Nearly 50,000  more recoveries were reported during the last 24 hours as compared to the daily new cases.
Out of the people infected since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,81,62,947 people have already recovered from COVID-19 & 1,19,501 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. This constitutes an overall recovery rate of 95.43%, which is showing a sustained increasing trend.
With substantially ramped up testing capacity across the country, a total of 14,92,152 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the country. Cumulatively, India has conducted nearly 38 crore  tests so far.
While on one side testing has been enhanced across the country, a continued decline in weekly case positivity is noticed. Weekly Positivity Rate is currently at 4.54% while the Daily Positivity rate stands at 4.72% today. It has remained less than 10% for 21 consecutive days now.
A total of 25,48,49,301vaccine doses have been administered through 35,32,375sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.
These include:
|
|
HCWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,00,51,785
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
69,67,822
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1,67,57,575
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
88,52,564
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
4,12,71,166
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
7,69,575
|
|
Age Group 45 to 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
7,57,08,102
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
1,19,77,000
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
6,25,81,044
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
1,99,12,668
|
|
Total
|
|
25,48,49,301
Prime Minister's Office
PM expresses happiness over resumption of Neral-Matheran Toy Train in Maharashtra
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today said that resumption of Neral-Matheran Toy Train in Maharashtra will make the scenic journey even more memorable.
The Prime Minister replied to a Railway Ministry tweet:
“Making this scenic journey even more memorable! Great news for local tourism…”